Valve actuating mechanism



yMay 19, 1931.

c.lc. WILLIAMS 1,806,231 VALVE ACTUAATING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 6, 1928 u 1 HHM" WH, C) HW 1?' 'rv-"155 77 f5 :yjzyj fg W76 E i 34 E f I .25 f d r j?? j I 1.

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Patented May 19, 1931 nunirsi) STATES PATENT OFFICE 'VALVE ACTUATING MECHANISIVI Application filed September This invention relates to an improved valve actuating mechanism of the general character disclosed in my co-pending applications filed of even date herewith, Ser. Nos. s 340,369 and 340,370.

or shortening of the rod and wherein the slip joint will include a floating clutch member of simplified construction but will, nevertheless, offer a relatively large bearing area to the male and female clutch members of the joint so as to obviate premature wear of these parts.

Other objects of the invention not specifically mentioned in the foregoing will appear during the course of the following description. Y

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view showing my improved mechanism in connection with a conventional overhead valve,

Figure 2 is a detail plan view of the fioating clutch member employed, and

Figure 3 is aV fragmentary vertical sectional view showing a slightly different embodiment of the invention.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, I have shown a fixed tappet guide at 10, and slidable through said guide is a tappet 11 operable by a cam shaft 12, the tappet being provided with the customary axial recess 13. A conventional overhead valve of an internal combustion engine is indicated at 14, and slidably supporting the valve is a cage 15, the valve being normally held closed by a spring 16. Mounted to coact with the upper end of the valve stem is a rocker 17 carrying an adjustable ball 18, and formed to coact with said ball is a socket 19.

In carrying the invention into effect, I employ a push rod in which is incorporated a novel slip joint. This joint includes a female clutch member in the form of a clutch cup 20 open at its ends and having a conical inner face 21. Surrounding the cup near itslower extremity is an external groove 22, while near its upper end the cup is provided with 6, 1928. Serial No. 304,371.

an annular overhanging flange 23. Attached to the cup at its lower end is a depending socket 24 offset near its upper end and provided with a flange 25 which is rolled into the groove 22 for rigidly connecting the socket with the cup. The socket more or less freely fits within the recess 13 of the tappet 11 for centering the clutch cup with respect to the tappet while the offset near the upper end of the socket rests fiat against the upper end face of the tappet. Fixed to the cup 2O at its upper end is anupstanding cap or housing 26 provided at its lower end with a channel member 27 snugly embracing the flange 23 for rigidly connecting the cap with the cup.

Housed by the cap 26 is a conical male clutch member 28 which extends into the female clutch cup 20 axially thereof and formed in the member 28 is an axial socket or recess 29. Formed to coact with the clutch members 2O and 28 is an inverted oating clutch member 30. As shown in Figure 2, this clutch member is in the form of a split frustoconical ring, while as brought out in Figure 1, the wall of said member is gradually thickened from the larger end of the member towards the smaller end thereof. This floating clutch member is formed of resilient material so that said member may be flexed and thus expand and contract in diameter and as will be observechtlie outer face of said member is inclined to seat flat against the conical inner face 21 of the cup 20, while the inner face of said member is inclined to seat flat against the conical outer face of the male clutch member 28. Resting against the edge of the floating clutch member 30 at its smaller end is a follower 31 of a diameter to pass freely through the smaller end of the cup 20, and acting against said follower is a spring 32 which is freely accommodated within the socket 24. The spring is of course of far less strength than the valve spring 16.

Extending freely through the top wall of the cap 26 of the female clutch member is a push rod element 33 which freely fits within the socket 29 of the male clutch member 28, and formed on the upper end of said element is a head 34 over which the socket 19 snugly fits.

` ber and associated parts are enclosed by the- As will be observed, the male clutch meminstalling the mechanisnnthe slip joint may be lirstjconnected'with the tappet l1, when i the push rod element 33 maybe inserted at its'lower end into the male clutch memberf28 land the socket l19 disposed overthezhead34 to coact with the ball 18.V

Y Assuming now that the tappetll is being raised,.the upward thrustor jar of the tappet will, as will be observed, beftransmitted directly to the-floating clutch member 30 and of course, at the instant vsuch upward thrustis ftransinittedto said/member, the yvalve 14, spring 16, rockerll and rpush rod element 33 will be at, rest. vcAccordingly, the inertia vof these parts will be sufhcient toima'intain thejpush rod element stationary momentarand oppose the upward thrust or jar of the i ytaapet with sufficient vforce .to cause upward movement lozt theclutch cup with coincident downward endwise Vslipping of the clutchmember independently of the clutch member 28. As the floating clutch member thus moves downwardly in the ou,Y 20 said member is, ofcourse, contracted, while'the sfpringBQ 1s compressed and due to the differ- Y encein thel angularity ofthe clutch face 210i Y the cup v20 Vand the face of the male clutch member 28, the vnoa-ting Vclutch memberBO pis, ,of course, .independently shifted downwardlya distance greater than the independlent upward movement of the clutchcup. Y The push rod is, thus automatically contracted,

rigid connection Lbetween said cup andthe 53 but l'as f .the `tappet'i continues Vin its upward fmoifvementrandfthe inertia .of the .push rod element, rocker", and valve is overcome, the

downward slipping of thefoating clutch member 30 is arrested substantially at the `instant the' push rod-"element Vbegins to yield l lto 'upward'movement ofthey tappen when ,thedioating 'clutch member wedges between the 1clutch face 2l of the cup and the conicalV aceof-the male clutohmember to provide a push rod element, that the valve is opened. Due to the automatic Vcontraction of the p l'ish rod las-thev'alve is opened, the opening travel,imparted-tothe valve will be corre- ,spondinglyshortened Accordingly, upon the return of 'the tappeti` downwardly, `the valvev will seat before the tapp'et reaches the i. bbttomoffitsthrow so that the push rodrrelelment 33 will be relieved of the downward `pressure otherwise exerted thereon the valve-springA 16. AAsa result, the spring 32 v will, as the tappet' completes j its downward Tmovement, expand for again shifting .the

. y-flozptting clutch member 30 upwardly within rthelutclr cup QOand-thus liftthe push rod felement so Vthat thejmembers will be returned to their original positions, while all looseness between the parts will be automatically ta'lren up. Battling will thus be eliectually prevented and, of course, as the floating clutch member is shifted upwardly said member lwill entend within the clutch cup to coact therewith.,v Should the valve fail to seat properly, the push rodwill, as will be i understood in view of the foregoing description, be permitted to automatically expand to compensate ferr-the' shortened closing travelof the yalve while, when the valve is subsequently-permitted to move into engagement with its seat,the repeated jarringcommunicatedfrom the Vtappet to the lloating v'clutch member, will cause said-member 5to slip, so that the Vpush rod will be `caused to automatically contractto compensate for the increased closing travel ofthevalve.v Y

Attention is now directed to the `fact that by employing a truste-conical floating .clutch member, said member is shaped to provide a large bearing area. to coact not only Withthe clutch cupvQObutalso with the male clutch member 28. Premature wearA of all of these parts will Vvthus be obviated.- Furthermore,

since the lioating clutchV member will be contracted when shiftedV downwardly within the clutch c up 2O and will expand when shifted upwardly within said cup, said member will always maintain flat Contact throughout the area of its outer Jface with the clutch face 2l of the cupf20 and willlilzewise maintain flat. contact'throughout the area of its inner face with 'the conical 'ace of the malel clutch member 28. Thus,'the full :trictional'eftect of the floating clutch lmember onV the male and femaleclutch members will at all times j fn Figure Sof the drawings, I have illus- 'trated a slightly dilerent embodiment of the invention, thisfembodiment being shown'A in `connection with a conventional tappet guide ving theupper end of thecup is an overhanging flange 4l, andsurrounding said langeis anupstanding truste-conical cap orhousing 42 provided at its lower end with a channel member 43 tightlyvrembracing the ilange 4l forvlrigidly connecting the cap tothe cup. Extending .intotheclutch cup axially thereof .is a i'rusto-conical male clutchmember V44 :having a conical recess 45 and surrounding said recess is an .upstanding flange 46. At its-lower end said member is provided with a beveled face 47 to seat lat against the coni- .cal inner-face of the clutch cup for limiting the 4male clutch member 'in its downward r,movement kwithin said icupr' lnterpos'e'd hetween the male and female clutch members to coact therewith is an inverted floating clutch member 48, and resting against the edge of said floating clutch member at its larger end is a follower 49 centered by the flange 46 of the male clutch member, which flange the follower freely surrounds. Acting on the follower is a spring 50 enclosed within the housing 42.

The oating clutch member 48 is in the form of a split frustro-conical ring, the wall of which is gradually thickened from the smaller end of said member towards the larger end thereof, or the reverse of the floating clutch member 30. The member 48 is, of course, formed of resilient material so that said member may be flexed and thus expand and contract in diameter and, as will be observed, the inner and outer faces of said member are inclined to seat flat against the male and female clutch members respectively.

Extending freely through the bottom wall 40 of the female clutch cup 38 is a socket 5l which is removably received more or less freely within the recess 37 of the tappet for centering the slip joint with respect to the tappet and formed on said socket at its upper end is a flange 52 which seats fiat against the inner face'of the bottom wall 40 of the clutch cup for limiting the socket against downward displacement. Freely fitting within the socket to act against the male clutch member 44 is a spring 53 and in this connection it should be observed that the spring 53 is of less strength than the spring 50, while the spring 50 is of far less strength than the usual valve spring.

Extending loosely through the top wall of the housing 42 is a push rod element 54 which freely fits at its lower end in the recess 45 of the male clutch member 44, the push rod element 54 corresponding, of course, to the push rod element 33. Freely surrounding the element 54 is a cap 55 frictionally tting tightly over the upper end of the housing 42, and enclosed by the cap 55 is a felt or equivalent element 56 slidably receiving the push rod element therethrough. This felt is preferably saturated with oil which, during the operation of the mechanism, will find its way into the slip joint for maintaining the parts lubricated. It is believed, in view of the description previously given in regard to the operation of the prior embodiment of the invention, that the operation of this latter embodiment will be understood. However, it may be observed that when the tappet Y starts to rise, that the floating clutch member 48 will be shifted upwardly within the cup 38 and will coincidently expand while the spring 50 will be compressed. Accordingly, upon the return of the tappet downwardly the spring 50 will, after the valve seats, eX- pand for returning the floating clutch member downwardly within the clutch cu so that the male clutch member will be lifte and all looseness between the parts taken up, the floating clutch member being caused to contract as it is shifted downwardly. The spring 53 is provided to accelerate the upward movement of the male clutch member 44 incident to each cycle of the valve so that the parts will properly recover their normal positions at high engine speeds.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. An automatic take-up device including nested conical clutch members comprising rigid inner and outer members and a coacting split annular intermediate member shiftable axially between said inner and outer members for spacing said inner and outer members and having flat contact with the inclined faces thereof.

2. An automatic take-up device including nested conical clutch members comprising rigid inner and outer members and a coacting split annular intermediate member shiftable axially between said inner and outer members for spacing said inner and outer members and having flat contact with the inclined faces thereof, the wall of said intermediate member being thickened toward one end of such member.

3. An automatic take-up device including nested conical clutch members comprising rigid inner and outer members and a coacting split annular intermediate member shiftable axially between said inner and outer members for spacing said inner and outer members and having flat Contact with the inclined faces thereof, and yieldable means tending to shift said intermediate member.

I4. An automatic take-up device including nested conical clutch members comprising rigid inner and outer members and a coacting split annular intermediate member shiftable axially between said inner and outer members for spacing said inner and outer members and having flat contact with the inclined faces thereof, and a spring tending to shift said intermediate member.

5. An automatic take-up device including nested conical clutch members comprising rigid inner and outer members and a coacting split annular intermediate member movable axially between said inner and outer members for spacing said inner and outer members and having Hat contact with the inclined faces thereof, a socket fixed to one end of the outer member, a spring in said socket and tending to shift said intermediate member, and a cap fixed to the opposite end of said outer member and enclosing the parts.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature.

CALVIN C. WILLIAMS. [L s] 

